


Pursuit

by 3311



Series: Fluorescent Light [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Character Study, M/M, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:59:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3311/pseuds/3311
Summary: Self-indulgent Leo fic. Content warnings for: mentions of drug use, alcoholism, self harm, suicide ideation. Despite those it’s ultimately very, very silly. Leo helps Gavin catch a cat.





	Pursuit

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before checking canon because why would they bother giving Leo a canon birthday when they didn’t give him anything else? but to my distress he has one, in canon its March 21, and technically I could have just changed it, but just give me this lads, I need it to be september 29 for reasons.

_Kittens born at the end of the blackberry season -[on Michaelmas Day, 29th Sept](https://twitter.com/P_J_Richards/status/1045949532037664768) \- were believed to be notoriously mischievous and unruly, because they came into the world on the day that the devil was cast out of heaven and landed in the thorns of a bramble._

 

He was supposed to be more than this, wasn’t he? With his father’s money he could have been anything, couldn’t he? If he had been more talented or smarter or maybe just not as stupid as he was. Not as anxious, not as angry, more determined. Not as prone to get stuck on hamster wheels.

At 16 those never ending cycles looked harmless enough, smokes and some weed, but what really should have given him the first warning, if he had only been, again, smart enough, were those water bottles filled with cheap vodka or gin he always kept by him. To dull his aimless anger, to give him some sense of worth, to make him feel less wired up. He hadn’t inherited even one drop of his father’s artistic talents – he had no hopes of ever painting or playing the piano like Markus could – but he had picked up his father’s discarded vices alright. Vices an android could never fall into, not ever, even if they tried.

Leo leaned forward to look at the water under the bridge, knowing perfectly well he’d never jump, he wasn’t that bold, and anyway from this height he’d only break a few bones at most. He was named Leo – Lion, Brave – but he was nothing like that, he was much closer to a rat than a lion and he had to keep running on the wheel, although by now he knew it would always take him to the same place. Nowhere.

He was turning 29 on the 29, it made it feel weirder somehow, and he wasn’t anything much. His major accomplishment was staying clean, not even for a full year yet, and he was back living at home – if he could even call Carl Manfred’s house his home – he couldn’t even be trusted to keep out of trouble on his own, a burden to the elderly father that hadn’t even wanted a son, not at least until he could have a perfect one.  The contrast was even more jarring now that they lived side by side.

Markus was a revolutionary, a leader, the face of the android movement. He was interviewed often, his schedule full with important, world changing meetings and conferences just like his dad’s was always full with prestigious gallery openings and galas. Simon, although always by Markus side at those events, was the domestic type. He seemed the happiest when he could make things nice for Markus around the house, for all of them really. Markus often told him he didn’t have to. Simon would always reply saying he did so because he wanted to, because it made him happy, and Markus would relent with a smile and that weird hand thing androids did, which always made Leo self-conscious not knowing if he should look away, or leave.

Before Markus, Leo never gave androids that much thought and they seemed creepier now that they were supposed to be just as alive as humans were. Leo didn’t understand that, but he didn’t mind them in general, and when it was only Simon in the house it was almost okay. Simon was average, and Leo didn’t mean that as an insult.

But his resentment towards Markus in particular was still there if not as twisted. Resentment for being all the things Leo didn’t know how to be, and for knowing all the things his father hadn’t cared enough to try to teach to him, maybe knowing from the start that Leo would never reach even a half, or a quarter, or an eighth (the fractions could go on forever really) of what Markus was, no matter how much he tried. Looking at Markus always filled him with equal parts jealousy and shame.

For what Leo had done and for what Markus was.

For what Markus had done and for what Leo was. 

His own father would never look at him in the proud way he looked at Markus. Nobody would ever look at him in the adoring way Simon looked at Markus. Why would anyone, he was only a run-of-the-mill loser, nothing fantastic, nothing accomplished.  He was a year from being 30 and he still acted like a teenager, arrested development, as if addiction had stunted his growth, he still felt more or less like he did at 16, only more tired of everything.   

It made him want to drink again until his failures didn’t matter, or go hook-up with strangers so the itchiness under his skin would be distracted, or hurt himself again so the anxiety in his veins could find a way out. If you could get addicted to it, Leo could only be trusted to fall right in; red-ice was only the latest in a chain of addictions and vices sought out to keep him calmer. It always backfired and he never learned.

Standing on the bridge, looking at seemingly happy, unburdened people walk through the park, Leo snapped the rubber band around his wrist a few times.

He was supposed to be more than this, but Leo knew he couldn’t have been something else without being someone else entirely. Someone better, not himself. He couldn’t run away and start from 0 somewhere, he was too chickenshit and too useless for that, but maybe he could get red-ice, make sure it was too much of it this time.

Leo got his phone out, resting his arms on the railing of the bridge, hovering over the number of his therapist for a second but scrolling past, writing a text to his dealer whose number he didn’t delete even though he knew he should have. He was about to press send, when the sting of pins and needles went up from his legs to his back and then his shoulder blades.

The cat jumped from his shoulder where it had climbed to the space between his arms pushing his phone right out of his hands. Leo could do nothing but see it fall into the water as the biggest ball of charcoal cotton candy he had ever seen dashed away over the railing, with astounding speed and extraordinary balance for something that fat.  

“Sorry, man. I swear that fucking cat is dead meat!” its owner said savagely, his angry eyes following the fugitive, an empty cat carrier in one hand. Leo, who had an eye for expensive things, couldn’t help but notice that must be one of the fanciest carriers you could possibly buy

“Oh, fuck” Gavin Reed said when he finally looked at the man his cat had just assaulted.

On paper Gavin Reed should hate Leo Manfred, but Gavin was a cat person after all, and he had never met anyone more like a cat than him.

Leo’s name was a perfect fit; short-tempered, self-centered and pampered, whining up a storm if he didn’t get the attention he thought he deserved, and abrasive when he didn’t get his way. Hissing and spitting at everyone who got in his face, only louder if it was for his own good, like with those fancy lawyers his daddy always sent to disentangle him out of anything he got himself into, with only a handful of hours of community service at most.

Gavin could’ve hated that, but it was always a highlight to his day when Leo hurled stale coffee in the general direction of those posh fuckers, all of which scrambled away like the cockroaches they really were, let’s their $800 shirts or ivy league airs got stained. One of those full paper cups had crashed on Anderson’s desk once, and that had been an excellent day.

It all had been far less enjoyable once Leo got hooked on red-ice. Leo Manfred was exactly the type of dumb fucker who would get sucked into that crap, but they had seen nothing of him at the station for almost a year, and since he was standing right in front of Reed now, it seemed Leo still held on to a few of his 9 lives.

“That was a fucking expensive phone” Leo hissed

“Whatever the fuck are you going on about, Manfred” Gavin replied walking past him. Manfred, of all people, would have no problem getting a new one without Gavin having to offer a slice from his paycheck

“Your dumb cat and my stupid phone, Gavin!” Leo said following him

“I don’t see any fucking cat here, and that’s Detective Reed to you”

Leo scoffed “Maybe in your wet dreams, jackass, and you are literally holding a cat carrier”

“Oh for fucks sake, there’s no cat, Manfred. The cat is your evidence, without it you don’t have a case, fuck off!”

“So what if I catch it”

Now it was Gavin’s turn to snort “You couldn’t catch that fucker”

Nobody could. It had taken Gavin all night to tire the bastard enough to get him into the carrier and then to the vet, the little shit had screamed his lungs out as if the soft fabric cat carrier were nothing short of an iron maiden. At the vet’s waiting room everyone gave him dirty looks as if he were beheading the cat with his bare hands. The fucker got his shot successfully, at which point the shitbag decided it was to kill or be killed, and with cunning and dexterity Gavin hadn’t even seen from the swat team, he had taken the opportunity as soon as the vet’s assistant entered the room, he performed a flawless hannibal lecter impersonation and escaped.  

Gavin didn’t stay to get the damage report before he ran after him, they may have been banned from yet another animal hospital, it wouldn’t be the first time with that bastard. Gavin didn’t know why he bothered, it wasn’t even his cat. It was an ugly, moody beast that lived in the parking lot of his apartment building, obviously an abandoned house cat that had grown bitter and distrustful, and wouldn’t be coaxed inside under either threats or bribes.

But Gavin could spare some scraps, and he put a collar, even a name tag on the damn thing, because there were more than enough worthless pieces of trash who would like to poison him, but something as fucking dumb as a name tag was enough to deter them. Especially if it was easily recognizable to the neighborhood douchebags as the model Gavin fuck-you-up-first-ask-questions-never Reed used for his cats. He had a gun, no scruples and connections all over the police department; nobody was overeager to give him the shadow of an excuse. His cats got really wide berths.

“I’m going to catch it” Leo insisted still following Gavin through the park

“Do whatever the fuck”

“What’s its name?”

“Dipshit” Gavin replied after hesitating for exactly one second

Leo didn’t comment on it, that was exactly what he’d expect from Gavin. The detective climbed easily over a gate, landing almost gracefully on the other side as if he weighted nothing, Leo held back

“Giving up already? Didn’t think you’d be such a pussy” Gavin said from the other side of the bars

“Shut up dickhead, I can’t get arrested again” Leo said, pointing at the no trespassing sign indicating the public park ended and the grounds of a private gated community started.

“You aren’t going to get busted. You are with a detective, dumbass” Gavin replied “If a rich, bored housewife jogging to forget her husband is banging the 20 year old babysitter nags us I only have to say–” Gavin stopped noticing Leo was looking beyond him, at a housewife who had stopped in the middle of her evening jog to stare at them, cheating husband undetermined.

“This is official police business, ma’am” Gavin said flashing his badge with an ugly, sleazy grin, after which the middle aged woman immediately speed away like she hadn’t since her days in her college track team.

“Wow, she sure believed you, I’m sure she’s not calling the cops”

“I am the fucking cops!”

“Yeah, yeah” Leo said climbing the gate, his curiosity overwriting his better judgment, as it always did.

“Jesus fuck, Manfred! Have you never climbed over a gate before?” Gavin said as he saw Leo struggle. Not quite having the upper body strength to do it easily, not having the slightest idea of how to propel himself or where to lever his feet.

“Fuck you” Leo replied firmly, as he rolled himself over the gate ungainly like a fat seal rolling over a rock, deciding he had to let go of it or be stuck in it forever, falling flat on his ass as he did so.

Gavin laughed harder than he had in weeks as he walked away. He hadn’t expected anything different from a coddled house cat that fancied himself a stray. 

Leo, pretending to be unbothered just as any self respecting cat would, got up without a huff, beating the dirt from his clothes nonchalantly. Gavin almost expected him to say ‘that’s how I meant to do it’ but his sincerely unconcerned silence said it louder than words would.  

The air smelt like the wet dirt and vegetation around them, drops of water falling on them now and then from the trees, the leaves still wet from the earlier rain, as they walked on the fancy, cobbled walking paths of the private grounds which were slightly elevated, slopes of greenery at each side.

Gavin scowled at the picturesque setting, it was pretentious and fucking stupid. Could you even actually jog over the stuff? Leo had seen similar things many times before and only focused on getting a glimpse of the fugitive ball of smoke. They walked in silence until Gavin tripped on one of the useless, aesthetic stones. He always strode rather than walked, and this time it worked against him, being unable to stop himself from falling off the path, sliding down the slope in the mud until he hit a blackberry bush.

“Fuck, you OK?” Leo asked, to which Gavin reacted as any arrogant idiot with a hurt pride would.

“IM DONE” Gavin screamed as he got up “YOU HEAR ME ASSHOLE!! YOU ARE A DEAD MAN WALKING DUMBASS FUCKER, YOU ARE STAYING HERE TO ROT!” Gavin shouted, his voice getting coarse

“Yeah, that will teach him!” Leo said in mock support as Gavin climbed the slope, his hurt pride wasn’t being soothed by the way he kept sliding and slipping, his boots getting more and more caked with mud as he tried to get himself back to the path

“If you can do it better go the fuck ahead, Leo” Gavin said, his sentence growing louder at the end

Leo shrugged “Don’t you have a stupid baggy of treats to shake or something?”

“I left them at the vet’s, Leo” Gavin said, stressing Leo’s name again as he finally managed to get back on the cobbled trail, picking up the carrier he had dropped.

“What’s your fucking damage, Gavin?” Leo mimicked Gavin’s inflection, sure he must have hit his head during the fall hard enough to scramble what stability was inside there. Leo guessed even the slightest of bumps would be enough to do that trick.

“Reed?” said the incredulous voice of one of the fucking cops on actual duty “Goddammit! Connor, tell dispatch it’s only some dumb kids being stupid idiots” Hank said actually pinching the bridge of his nose “We got a bunch of calls about distressed screams and a suspicious subject, probably a psycho serial killer according to the first caller. What the hell are you doing, Reed?”

“What the fuck does it look like, Anderson” Gavin said, his voice as cocky as ever but the effect was considerably ruined by the mud on his face not to mention his clothes and the blackberry leaves sticking out of his hair “It’s my fucking day off”

“Trespassing and screaming bloody murder is what you do with your free time? Can’t say I’m surprised, but maybe you should try a sports bar”

“You’d know about bars” Gavin said “I can smell the booze fumes from here”

Hank and Connor ignored him and turned to look at Leo instead

“Leo Manfred” Connor said, in that clear, annoyingly precise cadence he still used “Criminal record: 0 felonies, 17 misdemeanors: a number of public disturbances, public intoxication and disorderly conduct”

“I remember a few of those” Hank confirmed

“No active warrants, born September 29, 2010” Connor finished with a wink at Hank as his LED, which he still kept unlike most of the other androids, shined yellow

“Shut the fuck up!” Leo shouted but his voice was drowned by Gavin’s much louder “That’s private information, dipshit!”

“Really?” Hank Anderson said, looking at them with a small amused smile on his face “A birthday date, Reed? That’s real cute”

“Bite my ass, Anderson! I don’t expect a dried up geezer to remember what those are like!”

“Right, showering before a date, not getting the cops called on your date, all of that is so old fashioned” Hank said calmly, when an agonizing scream interrupted them. Sharp, loud, hoarse and pained as if someone were being gutted alive.

“What the hell is that?” Hank said

“A cat” Connor replied, scanning the source of the noise.

The screams got louder and from the rustling bushes emerged a creature that looked like a cat that had been deceased for at least 3 days. The orange-eyed, charcoal and smoke persian approached, one crooked fang protruding from his lower jaw. The cat, still screaming as if his guts should be spilling into the ground, didn’t run to Reed, he strutted straight past him to Leo, pawing at his jeans as if they were a scratching post, tired of the humidity and mud.

“What’s up, ugly motherfucker” Leo said picking the cat up. Reed expected the shitbag to attempt a hannibal reprise, but the cat only got comfortable resting his considerable weight on Leo’s shoulder, stopping the tortured soul in hell fire act in favor of purring as loudly as Gavin’s old harley-davidson.

“We are done here.” Gavin said  “fuckers” he added clearly and flatly as he strode past them

“Happy birthday.” Connor said somehow pronouncing it with a period as Leo followed after Reed “Aim higher than a cheapskate slob, son” Hank added off-handedly, his amused smile contradicting his words.

“Yeah, sure, thanks” Leo said slightly taken aback

Once Gavin was sure they were out of sight, even from the plastic prick’s creepy scanner, he reached out to touch the cat, the purring changed to a low, warning growl well before Gavin even touched him.

“Fucking gold digger” Gavin said taking his hand away  

The cat resumed his purring looking at Gavin with boundless impertinence from the crook of Leo’s neck. Gavin had been flipped off enough times in his life to know when it was happening.

 “You know what, fucking keep him, you two deserve each other” Gavin said giving the cat the middle finger right back

“Are you freaking serious?”

“Here, this bastard’s fucking vet card for his shots and shit. His worming tablets, your problem now” Gavin said shoving the card and the box into the pocket of Leo’s jacket.

“Ew, worms. You are disgusting” Leo said to the cat, but he didn’t hold him any differently although his arms were getting tired. Leo looked at the cat carrier

“Oh, fuck no, these are expensive as fuck and I have others that aren’t ungrateful bags of shit”

“So, are you like one of those lonely hoarder ladies? Picking up cats, hundred cats to a tiny apartment? Is that why you always sort of smell like cat pee?” Leo said, sniffing the air around Reed

“Still better than being the loser spending his birthday moping alone in a park, go get laid or something”

“Yeah, not really feeling in the mood for random hook-ups lately”

“You have to have at least one dumb friend” said the man with no friends

“The friends I had were the people I got high with” Leo said flatly, the fights he had picked with them were more numerous than the names he could remember. The cat in his arms purred louder.

“That’s about enough of your sob stories” Gavin said and Leo shrugged indifferently, he was more impervious to that sort of dig than Gavin would have thought, that wasn’t the type of thing that got under Leo’s skin even if it was paper thin in many places.

Leo started walking back to his dad’s house almost without realizing; subconsciously thinking he needed to get his new cat somewhere safe. Gavin didn’t realize he was walking Leo’s pathetic ass home until they were right in front of the big gate.

“I know what you are thinking” Leo said as they crossed it and approached the front door

“Yeah? What’s that” Gavin replied as he scowled at the house with the same disdain he had had for the cobbled path and considerably more latent hostility.

“You could fit a fuck ton of cats in there”

“No shit”

As Leo went up the first step of the house, he turned to look at Gavin “Wait, you still have– have leaves” Leo said, swiftly taking them out of Gavin’s hair, conscious of how Carl Manfred’s house could and would make you aware of all your flaws and inadequacies, like being under harsh, unflattering light and a magnifying glass to boot “and mud, your mug doesn’t need to look any uglier”

Gavin was about to say how Leo’s face resembled an old man’s wrinkled balls but he was startled silent when Leo reached out with his cat-free arm to clean the mud off his face with the sleeve of his teal jacket. Gavin couldn’t even remember the last person that had touched his face like that. If someone touched him it was either because he had paid for it or because they were trying to break his jaw.

“There, still fuck ugly though”

“Yeah, touch me again and I’ll sock you, Manfred” Gavin said, but by the time he got it out Leo was already walking into the house.  

[ _Alarm Deactivated,_ _Welcome home, Leo_ ]

As soon as the door greeted him the cat jumped down, running inside with his bushy tail arrogantly up.

“Of course you fucking love it indoors now” Gavin spat slouching against the doorframe

“Leo, are you okay?” The sound of the door brought Simon out of the living room, “Your dad has been calling you all evening; we were starting to get a little worried”

 “Sorry, I lost my phone” Leo said, self-consciously rubbing the nape of his neck

That seemed to be enough for Simon who didn’t press for more; he looked at the cat that ran past him  and smiled “Birthday present?”

“Sort of” Leo said with a shrug

“Leo!” Carl said pleasantly coming into the foyer, paint in his hands and no Markus following behind which could only mean he was away. Leo felt relieved, he was better now than earlier in the day, but he didn’t feel strong enough to face Markus, especially when he had made his dad worry again.

“Detective Reed” Carl continued, his tone growing somber. There was an expectant silence as Leo stood awkwardly by the door not knowing how to be a host in a place where he felt like a guest, while Carl and Simon looked at the detective waiting for him to tell them exactly in how much trouble Leo was now. Gavin looked vacantly at nothing, zoning out, feeling weird in his baggy, dirty clothes and muddy boots for some reason, wishing he was the fuck away, with two or three beers and a motorcycle race on TV.

“What?” Gavin spat, belatedly realizing the android had asked him a question

“Are you going to charge Leo with anything?” Simon said for the second time

“What?” Gavin repeated with an ugly grimace and an uglier tone “No – I’m not taking him to the station or any of that shit, I only walked his ass home”

“Oh, I see” Carl said, his voice immediately lighter; dangerously verging on amused “In that case, would you like to stay for dinner?

“Nah” Gavin said, his arrogance lack luster and out of place in Carl Manfred’s home, a battered army knife among shimmering crystal sculptures “That is, no fucking way” saying his social interactions had been quite poor for the last 26 of his 36 years was an understatement. Before he could demonstrate that further, there was a crash; Leo’s cat had found Carl’s paintbrush jars.

“Leo’s cat is in the studio” Simon said, his eyes unfocusing slightly as android eyes did when they used their scanner.

“Cat?” Carl asked with a smile

“It was a birthday present, sort of” Simon said with a smile and a little nod at Leo

“I see” Carl said, his tone now blatantly amused “Should we go check it out, Simon” Carl said, as Simon assisted him with his wheelchair “Leo, I’m afraid from tomorrow on my studio must be bluebeard’s chamber to your cat”

“Sure, sorry dad”

Carl only shook his head letting him know it wasn’t something to apologize for “Goodnight Detective” he said with a playful spark in his eyes, the same kind that appeared when he teased Markus.

“What was that, blue what?” Gavin asked when Simon and Carl were gone

“He means dipshit can’t enter the sacred studio or his throat will be slit” and as Leo said it, they could hear Carl’s laughter echoing loudly through the house, and even if much softer, they could hear Simon’s too, both of them apparently terribly amused.

“Your old man is fucking weird” Gavin said detaching himself from the doorframe and going down the steps without saying anything more as a goodbye, which suited Leo just fine

“Hey, shithead!” Gavin shouted, before Leo closed the door entirely “Don’t read anything into that bastard’s name” with that Gavin strode out of the gate without giving Leo time to ask whatever he meant.

‘You are fucking weird’ Leo thought closing the door as Simon went by with the vacuum “Dude, wait. I’ll do that” Leo said, rushing to clean his cat’s mess “What was so funny earlier?” Leo asked him, to which Simon replied by looking at him for a second as if trying to scan his thoughts, although not even androids could do that, at least not with humans, before saying “We saw the cat’s name” with an amused smile. Of course, Leo could see the joke in that.  

Later that night Leo sat on his bed feeling drained, glad the day was over. He asked Simon to help him make an appointment with his therapist; sometimes (most of the time) he needed help even with simple things like that, it frustrated him, but that’s why he was here, so he could have people around that would help him when he was slipping, a support net or whatever it was called. It still didn’t feel right, and he may still not make it, but that’s where he was, and at least the day was over and he hadn’t done anything too stupid. Leo felt pleased enough with his small victory as he cleaned the mud off the sleeve of his favorite jacket, lying back on his bed when he was done.

“Yo, dipshit” Leo said as the ugly cat came into the room by his open window “Done exploring?” the cat said yes by jumping lightly onto his bed and cuddling next to his chest, soft and warm, if Leo turned over the cat would climb over him to claim his place again, purring so hard Leo could feel it. He stroked the soft fur finding the collar, the little tag and bell made a soft clinking sound when they clashed against each other. He tried to picture Gavin scowling at some catastrophically unlucky store clerk when they asked him to repeat himself, only panicking when they heard ‘dipshit’ again. Leo flipped the tag over in his fingers to read the name.

“The fuck–”

Nobody asked Gavin to repeat himself when he got the name tag, he simply grabbed it from the ones that were ready-made ‘Leo’ was a very common cat’s name.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> …  
> purrrsuit if you will (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞) [a sniper takes me out instantly]


End file.
